North American Christian Convention managing director Larry Collins provided various statistics about the recent gathering in Indianapolis June 26-28.
“The NACC 2018 was a wonderful event and combined the best of all the programming tweaks that have been made over the last five years,” Collins said.
Total attendance for the event was 6,032. Of that total, 4,826 people registered and an estimated 1,206 people—or about 25 percent—did not register.
Among those who registered, 233 were students and 442 were children.
In addition, Compassion Experience prearranged with the NACC to have a large number of folks visit their display during the event, with an estimated 3,000 doing so.
The two morning main sessions saw an average attendance of 2,593, while the three evening main sessions averaged 3,323.
The NACC collected $73,634 in offerings during the event, which fell almost $47,000 short of the goal.
There were 245 exhibiting organizations and 420 booths sold.
Attendance at Tuesday afternoon’s “Opening Session on Leadership” featuring Chris Hodges was 1,225. A total of 1,572 attended Wednesday afternoon’s “Super Sessions” (notably, homicide detective and Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace saw 54 percent of that total, or 847). Attendance for the Thursday “Super Sessions” was 923.
The Leadership Huddles Wednesday and Thursday afternoons saw attendances of 684 and 452, respectively. The most popular topics each day were “Preaching Today” and “Effective Outreach.”
The Bible studies on Wednesday morning had 473 in attendance; on Thursday 368 attended.
Among the special events, the Ladies’ Luncheon saw an attendance of 419, while the President’s Banquet attracted 650 (both on Wednesday); on Thursday 316 attended the Seniors’ Luncheon.
Drew Sherman, lead pastor of Compass Christian Church, Colleyville, Texas, served as president of this year’s convention.
During the convention, it was announced the NACC’s name is changing to Spire and that next year’s gathering will be Oct. 8-10 in Orlando, Fla.
Collins described Spire as “a year-round, web-based, church leadership platform that can touch all of our church leaders, nationwide, every day.” Spire is a “logical step forward [and] I am hopeful that we can all embrace [it] as a positive change that can accelerate a movement of healthy growing churches.”
October’s Christian Standard will feature an article that explains Spire in more detail and describes many of the changes coming for next year’s gathering.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Youth and adults from Boulevard Christian Church, Muskogee, Okla., were among more than 200 people from 9 churches who participated in Mission Muskogee last week. Volunteers helped residents in need by performing household tasks such as cleaning, painting, planting, landscaping, and minor repairs, according to the Muskogee Phoenix.
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Christ’s Church of the Valley, Phoenix—the largest church in our fellowship—launched its ninth campus July 8. Mike Anderson serves as pastor of the North Phoenix campus.
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Several of our churches will serve as remote locations for the Global Leadership Summit, Aug. 9 and 10. The summit offers “a unique blend of vision, inspiration and practical skills you can immediately apply.” Speakers will include Erwin McManus, Angela Ahrendts, Craig Groeschel, and Simon Sinek, among others. Learn more (and find a host church) at www.willowcreek.com.
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“WOW—Women of the Word” will take place Aug. 2-4 at Great Lakes Christian College, Lansing, Mich. The theme is “Refreshing Encounters with Jesus” and the guest speaker will be Nancy Jett, an alumna of Ozark Christian College and wife of Rick Jett, executive director of International Disaster Emergency Service. Learn more and register at www.glcc.edu.
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Central Christian Church in Beloit, Wis., is helping bring healing to women who have undergone abortion procedures. The church’s eight-week interactive Bible study, “Surrendering the Secret,” encourages women to accept God’s forgiveness and healing.
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Person to Person Ministries’ Family Camp in Hillsboro, Ohio, will take place this coming Monday through Thursday. Among the scheduled speakers are Jeff Bush, Johnny Pressley, David Jones, Tom Claibourne, and others. Go to p2pm.org for more information.
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Maryland Community Church in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted its annual “MCC Men’s Shoot” event designed to help men connect with each other while enjoying some shooting sports. Said the church’s events page, “Come shoot clay, rifles, pistols and build community. Don’t have a gun? No problem, we have plenty!”
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Dr. Tommy Smith became the seventh president of Johnson University the first of this month. He also has released an updated and expanded edition of his book, Above Every Other Desire: A History of Johnson University, 1893–2018.
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